Dissipating heat away from circuit board components is a major design concern for almost all electronic devices. Often, circuit board components are cooled by causing air to flow past the component. The amount of heat dissipated from the component as a result of air cooling is a factor of the area of surface on the component from which heat can dissipate, and the amount of air that passes across that surface. If the electronic components operate in a device that is stationary, fans are usually installed to increase the air flow across the components.
Some electronic chips produce a large amount of heat and have very small dimensions, leaving a small heat dissipation surface area. To increase the surface area available to dissipate heat, a heat sink is often attached to these types of electronic chips. Heat sinks are generally made of metal and are coupled directly to the core of the chip, which is the main heat producing area of the chip. A heat sink extends from the core of the chip outward and has numerous outward projecting fins. Since the heat sink is coupled to the core of the chip, heat created by the chip flows out into the fins of the heat sink. The fins have a large surface area and effectively increase the surface area of heat dissipation for the chip.
Along with increasing the heat dissipating surface area, increasing the amount of air that flows across a chip can also increase the heat dissipation from the chip. In a stationary device this is usually accomplished by selecting a fan or group of fans of a certain size and having a sufficient volumetric air flow. The volume of air and the amount of dissipating surface area combine to dissipate heat from the device.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for an effective mechanism to cool electronics.